Friday, February 13, 2009

Battlestar Galactica 4x15 - in which much is revealed

MASSIVE EPIC SPOILERS

And much that was foreseen is true.

It goes something like this:1. Human vs. Cylon war on Kobol2. Kobol-Cylon vs. roboto Earth-Cylon war on Earth3. "All this has happened before, all this will happen again"4. Kobol-Earth Final Five Cylons are First Five, try to create a new race of humanoid Cylons that won't repeat their mistakes, based on a set of design decisions:- rather than allowing full reproduction and diversity (as we saw on Earth), there are instead just 7 models, which embody different aspects of the human personality. This limited, balanced set of models will presumably be less likely to turn on one another, since they won't attack either their own models or their six fellow-models- instead of violent gods of war and the rest of the pantheon, they give them a single, unifying religion of one god of love- they program them to be unable to reproduce unless they feel true love

Very, very early on in the show I had speculated whether it was all a bit "rats in a maze" - the Cylons allowing the fleet to progress, for their own reasons... this appears to also be basically true. It's all Cavil's elaborate revenge on his creators.

I think the remainders of the human race are just rats in a maze for the Cylons.

* What is the nature of the final five, what do they know? What have they been doing? Why are they important?

The final five worked together in a research facility to rediscover "organic resurrection technology" - a lost technology from Kobol. Saul and Ellen were together, Galen and whatshername (Tori?) were together, and then there was Sam. When Earth was destroyed, they resurrected in a ship near the Earth.

where is the Cylon infrastructure?

Presumably at the Secret Colony.

Is the Secret Colony also the Place of Resurrection? It's not clear.Did the Five leave backup models of themselves, who are the puppet masters behind the behind the scenes? Or is the Place of Resurrection their old ship, still operating somewhere? Wherever it is, it's where Kara was resurrected, gently brain-wiped, and sent on her way.

Next up in the Place of Resurrection:* Sam Anders

Possibly on the Resurrection lineup:* Dualla (Dee)* Zarek* Gaeta

1 what the 5 have been doing for the last 2000 years

2 who "uplifted" the 12 Colonies Cylons to have humanoid bodies and a belief in One God (unless they uplifted themselves)2a there is clearly SOME connection to the 5, what with Deanna's vision and the fighters recognizing Sam Anders - did the Five do the uplift? Are there Others?

3 what is the extent and nature of the remaining resurrection technology

1. on a very slow boat to the 12 Colonies, with a stop at the Temple of Hope to jigger it to reveal the 5.

Gosh, who could have predicted that. Oh wait, me. (I just had them going in the wrong direction.)

The more perfect union theory is something like: the first five Cylons have a plan to rebuild an integrated, peaceful society from the ashes of the split societies, unifying man and machine. They possibly went ahead to Earth, just in the last 50 years or so, stopping at the Temple of Jupiter along the way to rejigger it to reveal the Final Five, taking advantage of the existing mythology.

2. & 2a. The Five did indeed do the uplift. Status of any Others (and Model 7) still unknown.3. Possibly the original resurrection ship remains, possibly there are additional sekrit resurrection ships, and there's some technology at the Secret Colony.

New mystery: What's the deal with Model 7?

You know the answer.There would be no reason to introduce an extra model this late in the game, except that...ZAK ADAMA IS A CYLON

In case you're keeping track of models, that makes it

Known Cylon models# 1 Number One (aka Brother Cavil) - "John"# 2 Number Two (aka Leoben Conoy)# 3 Number Three (aka D'Anna Biers)# 4 Number Four (aka Simon)# 5 Number Five (aka Aaron Doral)# 6 Number Six (aka Caprica-Six/Head Six/Shelley Godfrey/Gina Inviere/Natalie)